The Cube Method

Brandon Lilly

3.68 · Rating details · 117 ratings · 7 reviews

Are you ready for the next level in powerlifting training? Are you tired of programs that leave you coming up short on meet day? How about getting the leg up on your competition with the tried and true “Old School” methods of powerlifting, with a modern application?

You need a program that covers every aspect of strength training and leaves no doubt that your progress will ...more

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ebook, 73 pages

Published December 11th 2012 by BookBaby

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Feb 15, 2021 Bastard Travel rated it really liked it

Brandon Lilly is a huge dude, and he wrote a book to teach others how to be huge. He's mostly literate, but writing is not his strong suit. Fortunately, I didn't come out here to pick up Brandon Lilly's tips on how to master the literary craft.

The Cube method is an intuitive, no-frills approach to powerlifting. The first 5-7 working sets are devoted to one of the big three lifts and their variations to strengthen the individual weak points in those three lifts. For example, if your bench press Brandon Lilly is a huge dude, and he wrote a book to teach others how to be huge. He's mostly literate, but writing is not his strong suit. Fortunately, I didn't come out here to pick up Brandon Lilly's tips on how to master the literary craft.

The Cube method is an intuitive, no-frills approach to powerlifting. The first 5-7 working sets are devoted to one of the big three lifts and their variations to strengthen the individual weak points in those three lifts. For example, if your bench press lockout is a problem, a few of your bench day sets will be devoted specifically to training close-grip bench to beef up your puny triceps. If you struggle getting the weight off the ground in deadlifts, a couple sets are going to be devoted to deficit. So far so good, right?

Then, once you're done with your real movements, your fat ass gets to cosplay a bodybuilder doing 3-4 sets of 10-20 rep isolation auxiliaries. That's right, fellas. You get to do barbell shrugs again like some sort of high schooler, and it's part of your comp training program.

The day wraps up with an arbitrary strongman style training, sled pulling or dumbbell carries or something, and then abs. Nowhere in the book is an ab exercise mentioned. Lilly knows you know how to do abs, and he doesn't care what kind you do, so long as you do them every training day.

And then, on your fourth day of the week, you get to fart around with nothing but isolations! It's a bodybuilding day. You switch them around depending on your weak points, so every fourth day is different.

Lilly claims he named it Cube because when it's written down, it looks like a cube. He did not provide a graphic aid and I don't know what he's talking about.

The program has a lot in common with Wendler's 5/3/1, just like Lilly has a lot in common with Wendler. I've been on 5/3/1 for years now and I've seen good progress, especially on the bodybuilding modification. On 5/3/1 you're looking at 2 or 3 working sets with higher reps than advisable for pure powerlifting focus, then a circuit of 3 or 4 isolation exercises to support the day's lift. The Cube gives you more working sets of fewer reps since it's geared toward competition and not general strength, and greater specificity to target your weaknesses, then 3 or 4 isolation exercises to support the day's lift.

Wendler is more articulate, but he's also more of an asshole. Lilly talks about being alpha like a PUA manual for a while, but it's obviously part of his lifting psyche-up and it must work if the dude is benching 800 lbs. The writing style is not particularly confrontational, he's just saying what works for him, take it or leave it. The book wraps up with some woeful Boomer-era advice about eating "lots of real food" like chicken tenders, french fries, and Monster energy drink.

Well, I guess you can't argue with results. There's no clean bulking your way to the 308 lb weight class.

...more

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Mar 06, 2018 Andrecrabtree rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Could be summarized in a 5 page white paper. I’ll stick to 5/3/1 for now.

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Mar 10, 2017 Saleh rated it really liked it

After using the training program for about 6 months I finally decided to read this short one. If you got your Cube program from some calculator or spreadsheet, you're set, but give the author of the program your money, buy the book! Also, by reading this short book you'll get to know Brandon Lilly's philosophy and how he came up with this program. Great one! ...more

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Sep 21, 2016 Paul rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fitness

I've been following the cube method for 4 weeks now, and I've almost completed week 1 of my second 3 week cycle.

The cube method logic just works for me, it's my kind of sense!

Following these workouts has seen me absolutely dripping in sweat each and every day! I shall be cycling this for a while longer yet.

The book is a good read, although I'd have liked more info in nutrition as that's always been my downfall. Still, I'm enjoying my chocolate milk every day! ...more

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Nov 07, 2016 Jim Dydo rated it liked it

Good read lots of useful info.

This is something I'm going to try to switch over too. My current routine seems to be lacking in something. ...more

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